Progress Happens!

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135 Responses to “Progress Happens!”

Good morning, everyone! (especially zombie Diane). Mmm.. agility for the nation within at Westminster? Could be interesting. Mom’s a mutt and always the smartest human in the room.
Have a furry Friday. 🙂

The article says that purebreds have been taking a rap lately. This must be so, because whenever someone asks Mom if we are purebreds, she says she thinks so, but quickly adds that we are rescues. That’s a shame, because if they aren’t breeding us, we will die out or become so watered down, our husky traits will be lost. The fact that people think purebreds are bad and mutts are good is just because of all of the bad breeders and owners out there. Our opinion anyway.

Traits! We have always suspected our canine friend here is part wolf and worry when he is out on the prowl…as on these full (wolf) moon nights.
Riö: Friday it is! and then Saturday & Sunday the really big day!
(wonder if HRH B will offer any treats for the mention of football?)
Melanie: It seems last year there was a delayed showing online.

Worrit!…I just got a text on my little Go-Phone. My friend says the hot-shot is MIA….sniff!…He has not shown up at the busy-place and he has not returned my friends texts…wheeze!…Everyone is worrit about him…gasp!

Yeep! I was weathered in and had flights delayed and cancelled over te past two days as I tried to get home. I returned late last night. I am still catching up on this here blog, but I’ve been thinking of all youse.

Stand-down!…Emergency has been averted…snort!…The hot-shot has been located and he is on his way into the busy-place…whew!…Although, we must not let that beer and those hot-wings go to waste. Bring ’em on over to my backyard!…Wooooo!

Happy Birthday to Storyteller and happy Belated Birthday to Griz.
Now that the Hotshot has been found, we are dying to know where he was. Mom has a horrible story about when a very nice woman did not show up at the office where she used to work. People were worried so they called her house. A cop answered. Turned out the woman and her husband had been murdered in their home!
All of Mom’s current co-workers know they must let mom know if they will be late or absent.

Youse have heard of “good reads”. The latest cringe-worthy comment seen recently was “great spell” (paws over ears).
B: Please tell me this won’t catch on.
and then there is the recent Nissan commercial warning:
Fantasy. Do not attempt. Cars can’t jump on trains.

What a hoot! Mom just tried on her Iditarod ensemble. Here it is: Smart Wool top and bottoms, fleece riding pants, heavy, thick sweater, fleece-lined jeans, Patagonia “sweater”, and coveralls. She looked like the Michellan man for sure. But it all fit! Now what we are wondering is how she squats or lifts her leg to pee in that get-up. Heh!

Update!….The Hot-Shot is Alive!…snort!… Although, my friend wants to murder him….heh!heh!….After much worry and fretting he sent her a text that simply said, “I am alive.” …..grunt!… This lead to more texting and then finally he confessed to having “over-slept”….groan!….He said his new place is very quiet and he forgot to set his alarm clock, and his phone battery was dead. So therefore….wheeze!….He made it to the busy place and then had to do all kinds of damage control which was very humiliating ….heh!heh!….My friend said she chorkled the whole time. So he is at his post, unshaven, hungry and looking like a bum. But at least he is alive….sneeze!

Happy Birthday to the Storyteller…and many more! I wonder if he will go dancing.

Whew! MIA’s found.

Internet service was out last night – scary how dependent I am on the internet.

O’Howlers: (Laughing) I have to start getting organized for the Iditarod. With my tights, pants and rain/wind pants on, my knees reluctantly bend. But those rain pants will not be enough if it is really cold.

Golinka: Can the birthday Teller come out to play? We have hot wings and water. We did have beer but that is currently being used for swimming and cannon ball purposes. Leonard the dog has decided it his birthday today, too. If our reasoning is correct, and we have no reason to believe it is not, this must mean today is the birthday if all Leonards everywhere.

Maybe the Hot Shot really was at a “Sleep Over” rather than having “Over Slept”. Maybe that is why he looks unshaven, hungry and looking like a bum. Tee hee.

The lady who talked to Barb for a long time this morning has a Basset Hound rescue, and has 3 senior dogs that she thinks might be a good fit for us. Two were owner turn-overs, due to financial difficulties and loosing their homes. The 3rd lived with another Basset and an elderly couple. The sibling died and “Poochie” was kept in the basement a lot. She started peeing in the basement so they took her to a vet and asked him to euthanize her (lovely couple said they thought she was suffering). The vet ran some tests and determined that she had an UTI. He told the couple that he could not kill a dog for no reason. They released her to him and she is going into foster tomorrow. Barb felt very emotional over her story, so we will see what happens. Only downside, average lifespan for a Basset is 10-14 years, and she is 11.

Rio: My Lady knows what it is like to be worrit beyond belief. She also knows first paw what it is to be happy someone is safe and mad that she had to worry at the same time. I know what it is like to not be MIA any longer. I wasn’t shaven either come to think of it.

HAppy Birthday to Mr. Storyteller. He is also a great tummies giver. I got so excited the first time I met him that I may have accidentally chomped on his braids. I promise to behave myself better when we meet again.

The Storyteller had a great year last year and it will be even better this year.

Snowbella: hope you didn’t have to drive into Anchorage today. Like Dawson, we have been experiencing warm weather. The roads turned to ice last night when the temperatures dropped and today it is raining–GAH. {{{sigh}}}

I fear some of youse travellers north will end up too warm but better safe than sorry (and you should probably listen more to Wose than me).

Thank you all for the birthday wishes. I am having a very wonderful day of being spoiled rotten with presents, shrimp cocktail and steak. And a custard fruit tart for a birthday cake!
Dawson – we may not go out to dance, but I have promised a certain lady a nice living-room slow dance to “our song”, Moonlight Serenade.
Teddy – braid chomping is completely forgiven. When you are a charming puppy, you can get away with all kinds of stuff.
Rose – thanks for the “many more” wishes – it is certainly my intent for that, especially since I can walk again.
HOH – thanks a lot for the song. Unfortunately, the Kats think is was a catchy tune, and now they are singing it over and over again.
And Pancho and Lefty – the menu sounds fine, and yes, Leonard the Dog should be sitting at the head of the table with me. Maybe we can get Her Royal Highness, Empress Bee to declare today to be Official Leonard Birthday day.

O’Howler’s: I have been dealing with neck problems since November. The x-ray shows that 2 lower disks in my neck are quite thin. The chiropractor wants to know where the disks are bulging so that he can do the correct adjustments. My neck is a lot better with what has been done so far but still needs improvement if possible.

On the subject of my body….remember the two bad bouts of ear infections that I had in August and October? I had a hearing test after I was healed and while I did well, there is a range of sound that shows a loss and could be improved with hearing aids. Technically I qualify for them but it is my choice whether or not to get them. I know that people tend to check on and correct their vision but wait until they are practically deaf to do anything with their ears. A friend who just started wearing hearing aids said that she was told that having hearing aids could stop further hearing loss (like contacts are supposed to arrest vision loss). I had never heard of this. Any thoughts on hearing aids out there??? My friend said that it takes a while to get used to them.

Maggie, tell Barb that Mom had a bassett when she and Dad first got married. He was a wonderful dog and lived a long time (probably about 14 years–not absolutely sure). Mom feels very sorry for the poor dog kept in the basement. How lonely it must have been for her. Since Barb is retired and you are there to show her the ropes, letting her outside should for the necessities should become routine for her. “Poochie”…really?

Boobear, I know, Poochie is not our favorite either. Hard to change the name of an 11 year old though. Anything cute you creative ones can think of that has a similar sound? Listen to us, we haven’t even seen her picture yet, but her story definitely resonated with Barb. They suggested using a crate at first, and keeping it very near the sliding door. That way she can immediately go outside, and then be praised to doing her potty outside.

Hobbit, Pop should get a hearing aid, but he refuses to believe it. We never heard that it keeps your hearing from worsening. Maybe that will help convince him. We have heard that the new hearing aids are so much better than old ones, and also cannot be seen.
Maggie, we also feel very sad about a doggie losing her sibling and then being confined, alone, in a basement. How awful. We have a friend who built a fancy, custom home many years ago. When they moved in, she made her poor old faithful dog (Springer Spaniel?) stay in the garage so he wouldn’t wreck the new carpeting. Years after he passed, they got into Goldens, and rescued some, and then later they purchased special ones from a breeder. She opened up a very nice doggie shop. She sells upscale dog feed, and also gift items and furniture and all kinds of stuff that is very expensive, and sells to those folks who have the money to spoil themselves and their dogs. They think of our friend as an expert, but Mom just keeps remembering how she treated that poor old dog.

Interesting story, Howlers. Sad for that old Springer. They are such loving dogs too, so sad that she valued her carpet more than the dog.

Barb’s first thought was that she wasn’t sure she wanted to adopt a dog who probably is nearing the end of her life. Then she thought that the old gal deserves to spend her last days in a loving home. We were thinking about Bouchee, which is old French for mouth or mouthful. Bassets are French and have a bit of a voice, and Bouchee could rhyme with Poochie.

B&M: If Poochie comes into your life, I, Pookey of the HOH am willing to share my name. It would be easy to change over. Poochie/Pookie. Say ’em together, them later drop the one you don’t want. It would be an honor 🙂

They have 2 other seniors, Honey Babe who is 8 and Lucy Ball who is 9. Both had happy homes for most of their lives. Honey’s mom lost her home and went to live with an adult child. Lucy’s mom also had financial problems and was hoping to get her back, but then she fell and broke a hip.

Sending S-squad home from MRI. When I checked in, I was told they were running “a little late.” After waiting an hour, I asked if they could check when I would be seen. The answer was “it will be a little longer.” I asked if that was 5 minutes, 10 minutes or an hour. They said “yes.” When I found out it was going to be an hour longer, I rescheduled for next Tuesday morning. The roads are bad and I didn’t want to drive home in the dark in rush hour traffic.

I think when doctor’s offices are so far behind, they need to a) call you before you leave home and let you know and b) be honest with you when you check in. There is a big difference between waiting 30 minutes and waiting almost 120 minutes. Geeze.

OH: Great minds! Pizza here tonight, too! And buffalo wings (in honor of Rio) and cheese sticks just because and a green salad, because we like to be healthy.
CHobbit: Wish we could bill the dr’s for being late like they try to bill us… 🙂

Excellent idea to bill the tardy docs. Mom was waiting in her doctor’s office once for a very long time. The nurse finally came out and said the doctor wouldn’t be able to see anyone that day…he had had an emergency at the hospital.

Flummoxed!….I am totally and utterly flummoxed….grunt!….My friend Melanie has to endure yet another biopsy….WHY?…. My other smaller friend, CHobbit, has to reschedule an important medical procedure….WHY?….grunt!….This ineptitude pisses me off to no end….wheeze!

Whew – it has been a long and busy day around here. We have really put ourselves out for the Storyteller – we make sure that every time he sits down, there is a belly to be rubbed, or some ears to be fondled. Hey, it was hard work, but it IS his birthday after all. Besides, we get the steak bones from dinner!

Barb – you get extra special points for thinking of adopting a senior dog. And we think you could change her name in a couple of ways. First way: Like Bo came to Rio’s house, and changed his name to Beau, Poochie (really?) could become a classy designer dog named Pucci. Second way: they say most member of the Nation really only recognize vowel sounds or word “shapes”, so P-OOO-chee could get uses to P-OOO-kee, or in honor of some of the Plunderers, maybe SMOO-chee?

CHobbit – Get Hearing Aids! Do it now. You will be MUCH happier. The Storyteller fought and fought against getting aids. His hearing was so bad it was really hard to talk to him, and he was moody and angry a lot because he thought no one WAS talking to him, or he misunderstood what they were saying. After many moons of discussion, Mama finally got him to have a hearing test, and get the aids he needed. The difference was amazing! The day he got them, Mama brewed some coffee – when it was ready, the coffeemaker beeped – the Storyteller jumped and said he had never realized the coffeemaker made a sound. Then the microwave finished something and beeped. He looked at Mama and said, “The microwave talks too?”.
Nowadays, when he meets someone with hearing difficulties, he tells them what a HUGE difference hearing aids made for him, and encourages them to stop pretending, and get back to hearing life as it is meant to be heard.

The problem is that my hearing loss is minimal. If it is true that aids would retard further loss, I would be more inclined to have them. I miss very little in terms of conversation, etc. I will talk to the doctor more and someone said I could also test them out for a month before making a decision.

Tupper!…My friend says the hot-shot had a rough day…snort!…He is under a lot of pressure and coming in late did not help his situation…sniff!…She could only watch as he melted down, but not completely…wheeze!…He will be back to fight another day…heh!heh!

CHobbit – we have a feeling that if you test-drive those hearing aids, you might be pretty amazed. The Storyteller’s loss was considered more than just minimal, but not profound…he just could not hear certain megahertz vibrations, and that meant that words would drop out of conversations. Plus of course the coffeepot and all that stuff.
But we do think that having the aids would cut down on further loss.

Rio – we sure hope the Hot Shot can get his feet under him and go on to the potential your friend sees in him.

BSD – yes, the Storyteller had a really good day. Gramp got him a really funny card. When you open it, it sings Happy Birthday and there are “candles” that flicker. Then you blow them out, and the card cheers and claps. Its is hysterical – and it makes Gilly tilt her head, which makes the folks laugh even more.

Melanie, Light around you, and Zoe too, as you struggle with this problem illness.

Maggie I hope you have some new buddies in the home but, my goodness, 3 more at once sounds like a big change.

Storyteller YAY Happy Birthday.

Rio, I was thinking like Barb, Heh. What has that Hotshot been up to? I do read a lot of romance novels though so maybe my brain is corrupted. Hopefully he will be able to rest up this weekend and get a lot done in the new week.

CHobbit. You don’t know what you are missing right now. My Mom didn’t get hearing aids till well along in hearing loss. I remember her asking what that sound was. None of the rest of us could hear anything new. Finally we figured out that she was hearing the leaves blowing in the trees. She hadn’t heard that for years. I suggest you try the 30 day trial. You won’t lose anything by that.

I know I have missed a lot of messages that I should have replied to. This happens when you don’t read the blog until the end of the day when you are tired. I am glad that Rebecca is back home and that CHobbit had no accidents driving in the slippery roads of Anchorage.

HOH–I think you’re mixing up zombies and vampires. Vampires all have porphyria or something and need to stay out of the daylight, move around at night (although this changes depending on who’s relating a particular story). As far as I know, zombies can be active (a relative term) during either day or night. I have a cold, have been collapsing around 7 p.m., then waking up in the middle of the night, checking mail and this blog for a while, then going back to bed, hence the odd hours.

BSD–School is in Wintersession and I have no classes assigned for now. Library is also currently closed on Fridays, so no paid work just at present.

I was also up in the really early morning. I suddenly realized that the Iditarod is fast approaching and I have not really pushed about the booties for the Dogs. I bet Rebecca had to order them already without being able to count on our donations. I feel really bad and am going to try to round up some matching ‘grants’ to make the process go easier. Meanwhile there is a potholder waiting for a few more donations so it can go to a new home. It is the pretty garden veggie potholder…

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